Real Episode 8 (Concept Note)
by DisinterestedYak
Summary: My concept note for a vastly improved re-imagining of episode 8.


So, I'm a big fan of old Star Wars lore. I think Rian had some good ideas, but I think he wholly misunderstood the content that he was dealing with, so I think this is what should have happened in episode 8.

Episode 8: Victims of the Past

Crawl explains the situation as it ended at the end of episode 7

First scene opens as Finn regains consciousness in the rebel base/ship/whatever. He reconnects with Po Dameron and BB8 and the company comes together to try and makes sense of their next actions

Scenes change back to Ray on nameless planet as she stands in front of Luke. He watches her for a time and eventually speaks, saying something like "I have been waiting", she again offers the lightsaber, but he says that it is useless to him. She is curious, until he eventually explains that he is only a projection. It turns out that the real Luke, as the hologram explains, is deep underground on this planet, buried in a Sith tomb and caught in a trap. He has spent years in an effective coma and has only managed to survive in a state of complete force stasis. He has been so drained by his efforts to maintain life that he has been able to do little more than project his conscious as a hologram-like presence that has wandered the surface of the uninhabited planet on which Rey has found him. He shows excitement that someone has finally arrived and has ended his waiting.

New scene following Kylo Ren as he is rebuked by Snoke regarding his failures in episode 7. Snoke appears again as the projection that was seen in episode 7. Snoke belittles and reprimands Ben, but simultaneously continues to feed his desire for power and for the dark side. Ren leaves and meets with some generals of the first order and they all discuss potential plans and next actions. This should mimic the scenes with Darth Vader from New Hope.

Back to Rey. She explains the nature of her mission to Luke. She asks why Luke left in the first place and why he made it so difficult for the rebellion to find and contact him. He explains, upon questioning her further regarding her relationship with the force and her history, that he had initially come to this planet for a secret purpose. He explains that in the years following the original rebellion he came to sense an evil presence within the force that had secretly been working to undo the work of the new Jedi. It was revealed to him (via Force ghost or whatever) that there were secret Sith holocrons and source sites that existed and that would continue to poison the force and empower the old empire forces. In particular, he learned of a great and ancient technology in which the person and memory of an old Sith Master had been embedded. Luke goes further to say that he had even come across an old transmitter of this holocron during his early travels and explorations. Being already distrustful of his then apprentice, Ben Solo, but unwilling to admit this distrust to Ben's parents, he (Luke) decided to undertake a secret journey and venture to seek out the source site of this dark technology in order to stop any remnant of the empire from resurging. Finally, Luke explains that his journey ultimately led to this old Sith Temple, the tomb of Darth Snoke, he was then caught in one of the final traps of the temple and has been here ever since.

Scene back with Kylo Ren where it becomes apparent that Snoke himself is an ancient holocron. He is the memory and person of the old Darth Snoke and is the very influence that Luke feared. It also becomes clear that Snoke's holocron, that was always treasured and hidden by the Sith, had been set and presented by the First Order as Kylo's master when Ren first turned to the Sith years before.

Back with Finn and Po. Finn and Po spend time together connecting and whatever. Po tells Finn something of his backstory, effectively being scouted by the resistance while he was still a child and being trained up as a pilot and fighter. Finn finds out that Po hasn't seen his family in ages and has pretty much forgotten them, saying "the resistance is my family"

Back to Rey: Rey asks Luke what they should do now, telling him that the rebellion desperately requires his help against Ben Solo and the new order. He tells her that he is unable to escape unless she comes in and gets him. She says that she has never had any training. He encourages her and tells her that his projection will be with her and will guide her the whole way through the tomb. The next morning Rey enters the Sith tomb and begins to traverse the evil maze of the temple with Luke's projection at her side. This effectively functions as her training within the movie. This will take up much of the run time and be an exceptional challenge to Rey whereby she learns more about the Jedi and develops exponentially as a character. So effectively, there will numerous scenes throughout the movie, occurring when appropriate for the narrative, that follow her as she negotiates the trials and tests of endurance and the Force that she meets in the tomb. Importantly, it will also be difficult to determine exactly how long this will all take. The movie should give the impression that she spends almost a week battling through the different challenges of the extensive tomb. The implication is that she took supplies from her ship into the tomb with her.

Scene with Finn and Po. Finn, having been a soldier for the first Order, finds out that the rebellion make use of the same weapons manufacturers as the First order. He converses with Po and starts to become disillusioned with the war and with combat in general. He starts to understand it as a self-perpetuating construct of wealth and power and argues about its value with Po. He argues that Po's story, as well as his own, only clarify this truth. Furthermore, he is struck by how Rey simply left him after all the events of the previous movie and starts to question his whole reason for being with the resistance.

Cut to scene with Kylo Ren. Kylo launches small scale attacks on planets and communities that have some known connection to the rebellion in order to try and incite the rebel forces, and Rey, to reveal themselves. This is all egged on by the hologram of Snoke.

Cut to further scenes of Rey struggling in the tomb. She converses with Luke, who is continually training her through these trials, and he admits his feelings of guilt as he believes his absence has allowed Kylo to fall to the dark side and to embrace the position of vassal to the ancient Sith technology, a transmitter of which Luke had found and hidden away. It was by analyzing this transmitter that he had found out about the temple. There is also some speculation as to whether Kylo found this transmitter, took it from Luke, and was thereby led to the dark side.

Kylo Ren, driven to a Frenzy in trying to prove himself, continues to do all he can to find Rey and the resistance. We see him growing as an aggressive and authoritative leader over the First Order.

Scene with Finn and Po. Finn convinces Po to take him to a neutral planet and city as he has decided to leave the Rebellion. Po, in anguish, concedes and takes him to one in a spare ship (or whatever). Upon leaving him to find his way in this new city, Finn and Po have a last conversation. Po arguing "How can you not be convinced that they are evil and need to be fought, how can I not have convinced you?" and Finn arguing that "there is always evil, and (remembering Han) I have only been convinced that your cause is no longer one that I would give my life for.

Finn has become a pacifist.

Rey, after much fighting and learning, eventually comes to the final inner chambers of the Tomb. Here she finds a black doorway through which she must pass. Luke tells her that this is where he fell. This doorway is a condensed field of the dark side in which Luke's comatose body is trapped. He has only escaped death through leaving his body in a state of pure tension, a flickering existence of the force that is just enough to prevent him from being entirely overrun by the evil. Rey asks whether he is sure that she can survive such a task. He tells her that he senses something new in her, something that he recognizes and that he claims will enable her to have victory. She passes into the field.

Luke's projection has disappeared. In a state and filter of mad colors Rey meets with Snoke. She realizes that this is the presence of the Lord of the tomb. It is a powerful holocron that split and engulfed a whole room with the presence of this particular Sith Lord. The Sith Lord (Snoke) embraces her as an heir of the Sith. He tries to corrupt her will and power. Fighting desperately, she manages to withhold the barrage of dark influence, and thereby impresses Snoke. He reveals to her that only a blood heir of his own line would have could survive the trap into which she has walked, and thus Rey's true identity is revealed, she is a descendant of the long-dead Snoke. He then begs her to turn to the dark side.

Kylo Ren, launches another attack, an epic battle by sky and land. He manages to capture Po. By forcing himself upon Po's mind, who he senses has been hit by recent trauma, he discovers the location of Finn. Believing Finn to be connected to Rey, and remembering him from episode 7, he then leaves Po and makes his way to Finn.

We then skip to Finn who has settled himself relatively happily into some small job and peaceful mundane existence in his new city. Suddenly, as he is walking somewhere, he is attacked by Ren and the knights of Ren. He is unwilling to fight, having a heavily monologue regarding the fruitlessness of violence and the value of normal life in the galaxy (my own kick to the balls of the repetitive Star Wars canon). Finally, after excruciating mental torture, Ren realizes that Finn has no idea where Rey is and that Finn is of no other use that to further incite Rey's action. Finn is killed in the street by the knights of Ren. The bred soldier of the empire who turned a pacifist.

Turn to Rey, caught in the tomb of Snoke. She is still battling with her dark ancestor, struggling against his influence. Eventually she manages to summon the strength to push him away and finds Luke's emaciated body lying in a heap in the doorway. She grabs Luke and pulls him out of the darkness. As he lies in the clear air of the previous cavern, Luke slowly open his eyes and whispers to her that he is proud and that she must go back and destroy the source orb (source orb holocron thing? Effectively it is the source of the dark side technology that has powered Snoke). She pushes once more into the darkness and through to the other side. Once there she sees the orb and, with a great effort of will, destroys it through an emanation of light from her hands (an outworking of the light side). This is a huge moment.

In the base of the First Order, Snoke's hologram/projection disappears. Kylo Ren, rampage of anger through the base. Bursting with energy and rage he attacks Po in his prison, and, overpowered by anger, prizes the knowledge of the last rebel base from his mind.

Ren, alone, evil and commanding thousands of troops, in his new loss has unlocked the searing anger that pulses through the strongest of the dark side. Miffed, he sets the orders for attack.

Move to the final scene. Rey emerges from the defeated Tomb while supporting a hobbling Luke. He tells her that in his recovered state, his power will soon return and that the push against Ren is about to begin.

The film ends

Notes:

Snoke and the use of Holocrons

The character of Snoke irritated me even from episode 7. Who was this mysterious figure? Where was he in the previous trilogies. His presence as an actual physical being makes no sense when considering the Sith rule of 2. So, the obvious choice to correct the character was to strip him from being a Sith lord and physically existing being. I made him a holocron, a piece of technology that occurs throughout Star Wars lore. He is, in some sense, an incredibly advanced piece of training or guiding material, an ancient Sith intelligence that has been imprinted onto a device of some kind. It is this ancient technology that existed in and persisted after the initial trilogy and which Luke sought to destroy previously to episode 7. I did have to decide whether I wanted Snoke to be a technology alone, sort of a sentient training resource, or whether I wanted him to be the technological remnant of an old Sith lord. Either option works, if one decides that it makes more narrative sense for him to only be a technology, then you just need to make some adjustments with regards to the Tomb in which Luke is trapped. You could then call it an old training facility wherein the source technology is housed.

The character of Kylo Ren.

My goal with Kylo was to provide some real arc for his character. Based on his presence and development in episode 7, I decided to push him to his extremes. In this narrative we see that his connection to the dark side is driven by resentment against feelings of abandonment. This is initiated with his initial angst of childhood with Han and Leia, it is furthered by the abandonment by Luke (which may be what led him to pursue the Sith as a new father figure) and it climaxes in his perceived abandonment by Snoke. Thus, he becomes phenomenally empowered through his feelings of anger and hate (elements of the dark side), and this is what leads him to take the role of main villain within the final episode.

The characters of Po and Fynn

Firstly, this idea plays upon the close relationship dynamic that many fans loved between Finn and Po in episode 7. Progressing from there, I thought it would be powerful if Fynn's arc led him to turn against all forms of conflict and war. This would show progression from his origins in episode 7, it would allow for an interesting dynamic between him and (war hero) Po, and it would give him some real significance aside from his relationship to Rey. It would also then be fitting that he would die a martyr to the idea of freedom. Po, with his world shaken, is also then left in a position of turmoil. This is a position which can be explored in episode 9.

Luke and his absence

Luke leaving seemed stupid to me, the scene of him just staring at Rey seemed stupid to me, his long and isolated absence seemed stupid to me… I needed to fix all these stray ideas and develop them into a narrative that seemed sensible considering the true character of Luke and the true lore of Star Wars. The idea of being trapped in an ancient Sith temple was a good solution for the job, and his projection would explain his strange appearance at the end of episode 7. Also, this projection would make a fitting teacher to finally provide Rey with some training. Also, one could examine his guilt at the fate of Kylo, and the theme of his powerlessness as he is trapped for years as an absent projection.

The training, history and development of Rey

Rey needed an excuse and setting to actually train as a jedi and develop as a character. This narrative would give her a extensive spiritual and physical task and experience of growth. It would also explain her ancestry (in a way that doesn't suck) and it would probably make her more likable.

Setting up for the conclusion of the trilogy. In short, I think this narrative will make a far better Part 2, for the sequel trilogy. We leave off with an promising ending and with a vested interest in seeing the upcoming fates of Luke, Rey, Po, Kylo etc…


End file.
